East Coast storm snarls traffic at Buffalo airport

A powerful storm system that battered the East Coast today has snarled air traffic into and out of Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

A check of the Buffalo airport’s website around 5 p.m. showed that of 47 flights scheduled to arrive after 2 p.m., 19 were canceled, four were delayed and 13 were listed as on time, with the rest already in air.

Many of the canceled flights were originating from major airports along the Eastern seaboard such as New York, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Charlotte. Weather conditions in Buffalo are fine for normal airport operations.

“We’re suffering the effects of what’s happening at the major airports,” said Douglas Hartmeyer, spokesman for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, which runs the airport.

Due to snow and ice, some flights arriving at Boston’s Logan International Airport are delayed an average of nearly two hours, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Departures at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York also were experiencing delays of between 16 and 30 minutes and increasing, according to FAA data.

Of 33 flights scheduled to depart from the Buffalo airport after 2 p.m. today, 13 were canceled and six were delayed.